#so much for buying the two assassin snails. don’t need them when you have a loach that is like | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

paladin-andric · 5 years

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A Heist Awry

In a distant age of guns and factories, steal and coal, a hired blade infiltrates a mysterious facility and finds himself at the heart of a bizarre night of events...

Heavy bootstomps pounded against the pavement, though they drew little attention. There were many more like it, after all.

A man in a black leather suit with a hood snuck along the back alleys as he approached his target, his heavy stomps fading into soft and steady creeping.

Curtis Sterling was...all sorts of things. A man of many talents, one might say. He did odd-jobs, he taught hand-to-hand self defense classes, he even dabbled in poetry...but despite such promising prospects, they didn’t pay the bills well enough. While most knew him for these things, those that knew him best knew him as something else entirely.

He was a thief.

In the seedy underworld of vice and sin, most had already heard of Wolfgang, the ghost. An agent for hire who could slip into fortresses and come out with his target in one piece, often times with the guards never even knowing he had been there.

He stuck to thieving, though. He made it quite clear he wasn’t an assassin. They didn’t tend to live very long. Thrown against near suicidal odds due to the importance of their targets, counter-assassins, sting operations...that sort of stuff was why Curtis stuck to stealing things instead.

It was this line of work that paid well enough to keep him afloat. Despite his skills they never really paid too well, usually securing a month or so of rent. The odd jobs he handled by day gave only scraps though. Times were pretty tough for most folk, after all.

This time was different. He’d been slipped a note one night of a map and a promise of a great reward for a job well done. He’d followed the instructions to a remote tower in the wilderness, where a bizarre and eccentric wizard asked him to sneak into a warehouse in the city and find a magical tome.

The man said two things that truly peaked Curtis’ interest. First was that the tome contained experimental magic thought lost to the ravages of time. Secondly was the payment of a thousand gold pieces.

A thousand gold pieces...Curtis had never seen so much gold in one place in his life. How would the wizard even move that much to him? Where would he even keep it.

Magic, Curtis told himself, probably magic.

Either way, it was something the likes of which the thief had never thought he’d be given the opportunity to have. Hell, with that much wealth, he could retire, never steal or work a day in his life ever again.

Of course, even that much wealth would only get you so far. He wasn’t buying any castles or throwing any feasts anytime soon. He’d need to live and spend responsibly.

Even with that considered, the idea of being set for life was an appealing one. In this line of work, your luck would run out eventually. If he kept going, someday, someone would get the best of him…

Retirement was certainly a choice...one that Curtis was seriously giving some thought.

He finally reached the warehouse. It was as plain and nondescript as the other buildings in the industrial sector, but weren’t they all? No one lived here, this place was merely for work and storage.

Of course, picking the lock was a cinch, as was disarming the wire trap on the other side. Child’s play.

Stepping into the warehouse, the thief found guards patrolling the entire perimeter. Dozens of them, scattered around the place. Marching in organized patrol routes, constantly keeping at least one other guard in sight. They wore protective padding with taut outfits that looking eerily similar to the uniforms soldiers in the army wore, and they held large rifles…

What the hell…? Who the hell am I stealing from? Is this...a government operation?

Petty (and grand) theft was one thing, but these guards...were they actually with the army? Was Curtis about to go from a criminal to a fugitive? Was this even worth it? Even if he stole it, would he choke to death on a poisoned slice of ham a month into his retirement?

The man bit his lip and shook his head.

If I get shot, I’m haunting that old bastard.

His skills at remaining undetected were the only thing keeping him alive...and it was a good thing that was his forte.

He crept along the massive warehouse, keeping low to the ground and using storage as cover when needed. The poor lighting helped, to be certain.

It was a slow crawl, and at any moment it could all be over. Still, he persisted. He was already committed.

Coming to the final stretch, Curtis rushed through an opening in their patrol and came to the last hurdle; a guard standing at attention beside the door to the back room.

He thought over his choices carefully, dismissing the idea of using his pistol immediately. There were still guards in the room, and he was nowhere near done. He didn’t even know where the target was. Alerting the guards was the last thing he wanted.

“Hey, Albert!”

A voice from the darkness. The guard at the door perked up, walking past Curtis and marching back to where he’d come from.

“What, what is it?”

The thief didn’t wait. The coast, miraculously, was clear. He hurried past as the guards began talking, sticking to the darkness.

“We’re doing a sweep of the outside. Guys spotted a freak creeping around.”

Curtis’ eyes went wide at that. How the hell had they spotted him?!

“Stay alert, and keep your damn eyes out! Holler at the first sign of trouble, got it?!”

“Yeah, alright!”

“Good. Stay at your post, and don’t go investigating anything until we’ve smoked em’ out. Damn freak bolted before we could catch em’, but-”

Curtis slipped through the door, gently closing it behind him. This was bad...they knew he was here. Yet...why hadn’t anyone done anything, than? It took that long for them to start investigating?

No matter. He had to hurry. Sneaking through the small and mostly empty back room, the thief found a small desk and chair...with a trapdoor behind it, wide open and beckoning him to a secret underground room. A rug was messily tossed to the side.

What the hell...open…?

This must be where they were hiding it, but...why? They just left their secret entrance open like this? It was a laughable attempt, but at least it wouldn’t be in plain sight if they just closed the damn thing and put the rug over it!

Curtis shook his head and began to climb down the ladder. This was starting to feel less and less like a thousand gold heist with each passing minute.

Walking down a short hallway of stone, the thief turned a corner and saw it.

A dead end, with a pedestal in sight.

He rushed forward, checking for traps beforehand. Coming up to the center of the empty room, he looked down at the pedestal and saw something that sent him into a panic.

Nothing.

There was no tome, no hidden treasure.

“Shit!”

He whipped around and took out pistol, certain he’d been set up. The laughable “secret” room, the lack of his goal...he’d been fooled!

Only...it didn’t appear that was the case.

There was no ambush awaiting him. No one turned the corner. There was no gunfire. There wasn’t even a shout or footstep.

He was all alone.

It took a moment for him to come to terms with that, even in the small, empty room. It just seemed like he’d been led to a trap, yet nothing was lying in wait.

Turning back, he took another look at the stone pedestal and came a sudden, frightening realization.

It was covered in dust, except for a section in the middle of it...in the rectangular shape of a book.

It HAD been here! This WAS the secret hiding place for it!

Than why was it-

Wait.

Curtis’ mind pieced it together.

The secret entrance had been left wide open. The artifact was gone. The security was all over the place, and a moment ago...the guards spoke of a intruder running away.

They didn’t mean him.

Someone else, no...ANOTHER THIEF had been here, just moments ago...and made off with the tome.

“Shit...shit...shit! Goddamn it!”

Curtis slammed a fist against his thigh in frustration, mumbling curses to himself. All this risk, all this hard work...and nothing to show for it! It was all a complete waste of time.

Unless…

The man’s eyes narrowed. He could escape, go back to the city and…

I’m gonna find that son of a bitch.

...

It took a while to make it back into the city proper. The guards were sweeping the outer perimeter quite well, and Curtis had to move at a snail’s pace for a while to remain undetected. At last though, he returned to the main district of Genmere.

Great crowds poured down the main street, surrounded by stores, bars and inns of all kinds. The city of marble and steel rose high up into the sky, and plumes of smoke drifted off into the night as factories worked overtime to supply the kingdom with much needed metals for its endless march forward to modernize even the remote corners of the nation.

Curtis’ eyes weren’t on the skyline though. No, he searched the crowds, scoured over it intently.

He began to ask random people out of the crowd if he had seen a thief with a book, and to his amazement a woman actually said yes.

“Little creep ran to the Mad Bull!” she exclaimed, pointing further ahead, “Should I call the police?”

“Don’t.”

That was the only word he offered before hurrying through the massive crowds towards his quarry. It was a remarkable stroke of luck that someone just happened to see the fiend, but...why was everyone calling them “freak” or “creep”?

Perhaps they’re ugly, or scarred terribly? That would explain why someone noticed them in the thick of the crowds…

Pushing and shoving, Curtis ignored several annoyed shouts towards him as he forced his way towards the location. He could see it more clearly now. A small building of wood. The hanging sign by the door read “THE MAD BULL”, with “food and drink pub” underneath it.

It was one of many, but it seemed poorer than most. Made sense for the thief to go to one of the seedier pubs.

Suddenly, as he made his approach, a loud, bellowing voice roared out.

“If you ain’t buyin’, GET OUT!”

It had come from the pub, and out came a sight that made him give the whole thing a double-take.

The door opened, and the sound of a piano playing quickly became clear. A kobold came crashing, collapsing to the ground in a heap. Someone, presumably the owner of the pub, glared at him from inside.

“Come back and I’m calling the police!”

“W-wait! My book!” the creature squealed, its shrill voice causing Curtis to wince.

“You probably stole it...hmph, fine! Take it and GET LOST!”

A huge, heavy looking tome was tossed through the door, slamming into the small lizard. The door then slammed shut, and the piano song became muffled as the kobold picked itself off the ground and shakily grabbed the tome. It seemed to be struggling, holding the thing against its chest and grunting as it began to sloppily walk away.

The book...no, the tome...that...that was…

Curtis’ eyes went wild before he ducked onto a side street, his entire body shaking. Fury filled his veins, his vision clouded.

“A...a damn...a goddamned…”

He growled, his patience at an end.

“A goddamned CAVE RAT stole MY book?! That disgusting animal...I...I’m gonna...oh, he’s dead, DEAD! That BASTARD! THAT BASTARD! He thinks HE gets to take it?! That rat’s gonna squirm...that RAT’S GONNA-”

“SHUT UP!”

The voice came from the house he was currently leaning against. Curtis blinked, coming out of his blind rage. Right. He shouldn’t be screaming...he should be getting to work.

“Sorry!” he called back apologetically. Despite his manners, despite his profession...he was still a Geralthin gentleman.

The man sighed as he got back onto the street and began after his target.

Well, at least now I know why everyone was calling the thief a creep…

Not too long after reengaging, he got a bead on the creature, still in the crowd. It walked with short, strange steps, legs rising high up before coming back down, the large tome pressed against him with his arms wrapped around it.

Looked like he was having some trouble carrying the thing.

Curtis followed the creature for quite a while. It seemed to be darting its head around, looking for...something. Considering the pub...maybe it didn’t know where it was supposed to go next?

The people in the crowd often gave the thing strange looks as it ambled past, and Curtis could hardly blame them.

Still can’t believe this…this moron has no idea where he’s going!

After a long time, it started to look behind it. Its eyes locked onto Curtis, and over the course of several blocks, it kept looking back, each time getting more concerned over Curtis’ continued presence.

Finally, after wandering around half the city, it looked back once again. This time, as it saw Curtis again, its eyes widened as wide as dinner plates.

It know it was being followed.

The creature suddenly bolted into a mad dash, the thief glaring as the beast ran off.

“Hey!”

Curtis quickly broke into a sprint, barreling his way through the crowds without a second thought. His eyes were locked on the kobold, and as the chase went on, he realized with a growing sense of dread that the gap between them was very quickly widening.

It was smaller, sprier and all around better at slipping through crowds in a hurry than he was.

No, no...this can’t happen...I can’t be beaten by this...imbecile!

At last, it happened. The other thief vanished around a corner, and when Curtis turned it, he couldn’t see the creature anymore.

It had gotten too far ahead.

He’d lost it.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no...I can’t...this bastard can’t...this moron isn’t stealing my fortune away…

He kept running, ducking into the back alleys and searching through them. The lizard had to have fled from the crowds and hidden somewhere here…

“Well, what do we have here?”

A gruff and unpleasant voice called from up ahead, deeper into the alley. The noise alerted Curtis, who quickly moved in the direction of the voice. Pressing up against a wall and peeking around the corner, the thief caught sight of the man that had called out.

The man’s voice told all, for he was as gruff and unpleasant looking as Curtis had suspected. His scruffy facial hair, nasty face scar, and wicked grin showed him to be the sort of ruffian that wasn’t above killing. Curtis had run into plenty of folks like this one. He’d avoided them whenever he could, but now…

The man had three others around him...surrounding the kobold with the tome.

“Looks like a spell tome. Bet that’d sell for quite a bit, eh, boys?”

“Where’d you find that, huh?”

“Hand it over.”

Oh, hell no.

Curtis wasn’t about to let some random thugs get away with HIS fortune! He quickly stepped around the corner, walking forward and stopping with his hands on his belt. “Evening, gentlemen.”

One of the men glared at him. “Who the hell are you?”

“A friend of his,” Curtis said, pointing to the other thief, “Poor fellow got lost, isn’t that right, friend?”

The kobold remained silent, staring at him in confusion.

Geez, this rat really is a moron...do you wanna live or not?!

“Come on, pal. You wanna get out of here, don’t you?”

The creature’s head rose and jaw dropped a bit as it came to the realization.

“O-oh, yes, yes! Friend!”

As the thing moved towards him however, a hand reached out and grabbed the creature by the ragged shirt it wore.

“I didn’t say you could leave.”

The creature let out a short eep before twisting and squirming against the man’s grip.

“S-stop it!”

“Or what? Hand over the book, beast.”

Curtis glared at the thugs. He had no love for the creature, but if he wanted that tome, the thing needed to get out of this unscathed, as these fellows certainly weren’t handing the book over to him.

“Enough. Let him go.”

Their eyes turned to him, gleaming with malicious intent.

“You want some of this?”

Curtis snarled at them. “I’m not a man you want to make angry. Last chance. Hands off him.”

“I-I’m not-”

“Shut up!” one of the men slammed the kobold into a wall. One of the others marched up to Curtis and pulled something small out of his belt.

He brandished a knife in front of Curtis, pointing it at the man.

“Walk away.”

The thief smirked. The fool had no idea of the mistake he’d just made.

“Never bring a knife to a gunfight.”

Curtis drew his pistol and aimed at the man. His finger tightened around the trigger and-

His gun was suddenly knocked out of his hand as a metal pipe slammed into him. One of the others had crept around him somehow!

Curtis was slammed against a brick wall by the assailant, though with a burst of energy he shoved the man to the ground.

Turning back to the man with the knife, who had drawn closer, the thief surged forward and tackled him, sending the thug to the ground.

“G-get away!”

It was that shrill voice again. The lizard must have been distracting at least one of them. Good.

Curtis wrestled with the assailant for a moment before managing to rip the knife from the thug’s hands. Before he could use it however, a sharp pain filled his skull.

The other man had slammed the pipe into his head, sending him to the ground. Thankfully the hit seemed to be a glancing blow, for it didn’t feel like his skull was caved in. With the two thugs moving forward, Curtis got to his knees and swung the knife wildly, forcing them back. He then clumsily got to his feet and stumbled backwards, trying to reorient himself as stars danced around his vision.

He clutched his head with one hand as he swung the knife back and forth. For a moment this held them back, but then the two of them surged forward.

Curtis could make out strange whooshing sounds as he sunk the knife into the pipe man’s stomach. He cried out and collapsed as the other tackled him, sending both of them to the ground and the knife skittering to the far corner of the alleyway.

The man wrapped his hands around Curtis’ throat, but as he did so a thumb brushed past his face. Curtis didn’t hesitate for a moment. He opened his mouth and bit into the thumb as hard as he could.

They’d drawn knives and pipes on him. This wasn’t a street fight. This was a fight to the death, and he was prepared to fight as dirty as they were.

The man howled as he tried to pull his thumb free, blood beginning to pool in Curtis’ mouth. The metallic taste was quite frankly disgusting, but that was at the back of his mind right now.

“Y-you...I’ll put your eyes out…”

Curtis reached with his free hand to the fallen man beside him, feeling for his goal. If he could just…

He felt it on his fingers. Yes, that was it! He wrapped his hand around it and…

The man on top of him punched him in the face, hard. After a few brutal strikes he instead moved his hand to Curtis’ face. His fingers wrapped around the sides, and as they moved, Curtis realized he was about to make good on his promise, and drive his fingers into his eyes!

With a ferocious swing, Curtis slammed the metal pipe into the man’s face. He noticed, with a twinge of satisfaction, several teeth go flying from the hit. The man screamed in pain before he swung again, striking him on the side of the head. He crumpled against Curtis, who shoved him off of himself.

Curtis got halfway back to his feet before a third man tackled him, knocking him over but losing a grip of him as they fell.

The thief scrambled to his feet blindly rushing forward. There was a single item in his view, a lone thought in his mind.

The gun.

He ran towards it. If he could just get off a shot…

The thief noticed the kobold was waving a tiny wave of flames around the air, keeping the fourth and final man back. He must have been an amateur. Any decent magician would have incinerated these fools by now.

As he finally reached the gun, the third man tackled him again, this time falling on top of him. Curtis grabbed the pistol, but before he could right the aim, the other man grabbed it too, the pair wrestling over it.

It was clear Curtis was winning and had a better grip, but the other man kept shoving the barrel away. If he could just...get...a little...to the right…

With a labored heave, Curtis shoved the barrel to the side, the flintlock revolver pointing squarely at the man on top of him now.

He fired.

A resounding crack brought a swift end to their struggle. The man above him collapsed onto Curtis, blood already beginning to soak his shirt. The thief threw him off and got to his feet, gun pointed at the final man.

It appeared the other two were getting back to their feet as well. With the three of them at a fair distance, and the revolver ready…

Curtis let off five more shots, striking them several times. The two wounded men collapsed again, while the last one reeled from getting hit and quickly ran away, grasping at the bullet wound. Curtis looked around a final time, sweeping the place with his eyes. When he was certain that no one else remained, he finally relaxed.

Curtis dropped the empty shells and swiftly reloaded the revolved before shoving it back into his belt. He approached the kobold, now curled up on the ground and shivering.

“That’s it, huh?”

The small lizard looked up at him, still shaking with eyes full of terror. “Y-you...you…”

“I did what I had to.”

There was no response from the kobold, who still sat with his hands wrapped around his legs, tome beside him.

Curtis tapped his foot impatiently. “We’ve got some things to discuss.”

“...why?”

The man raised a brow. “Huh?”

“Why did you...help me?”

Curtis shook his head. “You have something I need...and I sure as hell didn’t want it falling into their hands.”

“What? What do you-”

The sharp, piercing sound of a whistle made them both stiffen up. There were only one group of people that walked around using whistles.

Police officers.

Curtis gestured toward himself wildly. “We gotta get out of here.”

As he took off, the kobold began to follow, once again carrying the large tome.

The thief heard the pitter-patter of footsteps behind him, knowing the other one was close on his heels.

“You alright, little man?”

The kobold let out a huff of frustration. “I-I’m not...a man!”

“Eh?” Curtis glanced over his shoulder for a moment while running before the realization struck him. “Oh. Well than...you alright, little lady?”

“F-fine! Fine!”

Curtis shook his head.

Still can’t believe this…

The pair ran further through the alleyways, looking for any means of escape. After several blocks of running, they turned the corner and found a dead end, the brick wall being their only greeting.

Curtis froze as it sunk in. The police were on their heels, and they were trapped!

“Shit! The hell are we gonna do…?”

As he looked around for any sort of item that could help, a loud clang from behind caught his attention. He whirled around to find...the other thief gone!

“What the hell?!”

As he looked up, he found where the lizard went. A metal ladder, slid up as it wasn’t in use, was far, far out of his reach...yet the kobold was on it, climbing up with one arm and holding the tome with the other. The creature grunted and groaned, the effort clearly quite taxing.

“Hey!”

The kobold froze before glancing behind her. Curtis stood down in the alleyway, staring up at her with a frown.

The scene of betrayal filled the creature with so much guilt that the she quickly turned and kicked at the ladder with her clawed feet, trying to jiggle the folded half free…

Another loud clang followed before the ladder was finally freed, and the bottom half came down, the bottom step slamming into the pavement below.

Curtis practically threw himself onto the ladder and scrambled up it like a madman, desperate to make up for the lost time. The ladder did not stop at a second story entrance, but instead went straight up to the roof.

At last reaching the rooftop, Curtis turned back and pulled the ladder back up, folding it once more. He hoped the police would think they made a wrong turn, if they reached this dead end at all.

There was a short, chest high wall all around the edges of the rooftop. Curtis knew that meant that if they sat down, no one would be able to see them.

He saw the kobold sitting on the other side of the roof, back up against the wall. She seemed to be catching her breath.

Curtis stumbled over and collapsed against the wall as well, huffing. Without the adrenaline filling him, the pain his body felt came crashing down on him like a cannonball, barely able to stand anymore.

“Thanks.”

It was the only word he offered, but the kobold nodded at him.

“Thank you too.”

Curtis stretched his legs out and leaned his head back. “So...who are you?”

The kobold fidgeted for a moment. “Salim.”

“Salim...alright. Name’s Cur-uhh...Wolfgang. Wolfgang’s the name.”

“Wolfgang...thank you Wolfgang.”

“Don’t mention it. Now...we gotta talk. I need something from you.”

“What is it?”

Curtis weakly pointed at the tome in her lap. “Need that tome of yours.”

Salim froze up, eyes wide. “B-but...but…”

“Come on, Salim. I came all this way for it. I need it.”

She frowned. “But...I can’t…”

“Why’d you steal it, anyway? Who sent you? I saw your magic back there. Amateur stuff, no way in hell you’re reading that yourself...so who’re you working for?”

She hugged the tome close, hesitating. “M...master…”

“Master?”

She nodded. “Master.”

“Like...a sorcerer?”

She shook her head. “Master! Master of the tribe!”

Curtis’ eyes widened. “You mean...a dragon?” the nod that came afterwards made him swallow.

“Salim...I really, really need that book.”

“Me too.”

“Salim, please...you know how much they’re gonna pay me? I can retire. I don’t ever have to go through this ever again. I NEED that book.”

The kobold looked to be on the verge of tears. “B-but if I don’t bring it back...I...I’ll be…”

“Than don’t go back.”

Salim blinked. “Huh?”

“Stay in the city...or another town...pick up a job or something. You don’t have to go back. If a dragon wants that book, and you fail it...well, it’s better off thinking you got offed looking for it, huh?”

“Y-yes, but...I can...I’ll be honored…”

She seems receptive...sort of. Strange. Usually these rats are ready to die for their masters.

Curtis attempted to appeal to her emotions. “You can be, or do, anything you want. You don’t need them. You’d be saving me if you handed it over. Besides...we’re friends, aren’t we?”

Salim blinked. “H-huh? Friends?”

“That’s right. Only friends save each other from getting cut up by thugs, don’t they?”

“I guess...but...you really want to be my friend…?”

No.

“Of course.”

“But why?”

So you’ll hand over the damn tome, idiot.

“Cause I can tell you need one.”

Salim scraped her clawed feet against the rooftop floor. “I...I don’t know. I’d make a pretty bad friend...all I did was get you in trouble…”

Yeah, you are a screw-up.

“That doesn’t matter. Friends help each other no matter what, right?”

“I dunno…”

Of, for the love of-

“Tell me about yourself, Salim. Where are you from? Why don’t you have any friends?”

And so she began to babble about her life, about boring and dreary day after boring and dreary day. Curtis quickly found himself tuning out.

“..and then he punished me! It wasn’t even my fault! Banni was the one that broke it!”

Who the hell cares, lady?

“That’s crazy.”

“Right?! Right?! I told you! I...I even...it’s not fair!”

Curtis shook his head, ignoring the blood beginning to pool under his suit. As the adrenaline wore off, he realized that the man with the knife had gotten a stab in on him before being disarmed. The head wound from the pipe was bleeding, too.

“Sounds like you’re really not happy there,” Curtis observed.

“I’m not...but...I still…”

“Don’t let them own you. They had their chance to be nice to you. You never caused any fuss, you did anything they asked, and you were still smacked around like nothing. Show em’...show em’ what happens when you threaten people like that...”

“Yeah...yeah, I should!”

“That’s right...now...I need...that tome…”

“W-Wolfgang?! W-what?!”

“Huh…?”

“You’re bleeding!”

Curtis sighed. “Yeah...I am.”

“It’s everywhere! Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“Gimme...I need…”

“I’ll help you! Don’t worry!”

She fiddled with some kind of bag, but by now his eyes were closed.

“Please…”

“Don’t worry! I’ve got medicine!”

“The book…”

“Huh?”

“Need…”

“Not now, not now!” Curtis felt his suit being messed with, as the kobold dabbed some kind of ointment on his stomach wound.

“The book,” he mumbled, “the book…” it was the last thing he managed before his world went dark.

…

He didn’t know how long it had been, how much time had passed. His rest was strange and troubled. Nightmarish dreams terrorized him, and pain wracked his senses.

At last, consciousness returned.

Curtis groaned as he woke up, instinct driving him to grab at his throbbing skull.

“You’re up!”

The thief blinked as he struggled to look around, focusing on that shrill, familiar voice.

The blurry outline of that kobold from earlier came into view.

“Wolfgang?!”

“Y-yeah…”

“Oh, you’re okay! I was worried I messed up again…”

“Mmph...what happened…?”

“You bled all over!” she whined, “It was horrible!”

“I’ve had worse…”

“Wolfgang! You nearly died!”

“I know, I know,” he blurted, “What...how long have I been out?”

“A few hours.”

His eyes strained, and the blur faded. It was still dark out, though if he’d really been out for several hours it would probably be morning soon.

“Shit...we need to go…”

“Can you walk?”

Curtis moved to stand up, hissing as he put pressure on his knee.

“Wolfgang!”

“Don’t worry...‘s nothin’...” He forced himself onto his feet and stumbled over to the ladder.

“Careful!” Salim warned.

“I know…”

The pair made their way back to the main streets, now truly abandoned. This late, or early, no honest man walked the streets.

“Where...where do we go?” the kobold asked nervously, “Where do you live?”

“Jus’...outside the city…”

They kept walking until they reached a coaching house. Due to its nature as an inn business, it was open twenty four hours a day.

The woman behind the counter of the Gentle Dragon Coaching House and Co. looked surprised to see the strange pair, and was even more surprised when they asked not for a room, but for a stagecoach.

“We got lost,” Salim explained, “He needs to get home.”

After a bit of arguing, the woman agreed, and woke one of the other night shift workers. The rather exhausted-looking man stumbled out to the stagecoach, and the pair hopped in the back of the carriage.

It was a short trip, and thankfully hid the wounded man from the prying eyes of police still walking the streets, Salim making sure to close the window curtains.

After roughly a half hour, they arrived at Curtis’ cottage, far outside the city. Curtis gave the man the service payment, along with a large tip for working under such strange conditions. That seemed to melt the man’s irritable mood right away, and he thanked them as they got out and hurried over to the house.

“Wow...what a great home…”

It was a very bare-bones house, but Salim seemed very impressed.

Ah, right. She lives in a dirty cave full of monsters…

Curtis collapsed onto his bed, not even bothering to take off his boots. He lay there, quickly beginning to fall asleep.

“Thanks...for the save…” he managed.

“That’s...that’s what friends are for!” Salim returned. She paused before continuing. “Y-you meant that, right? We’re...really friends…?”

No, you dumb-

His mind stopped in its tracks. He felt the bandages around his stomach, the wraps around his bloodied hand.

The only reason he was alive was because of her.

“...of course.”

It wasn’t a lie this time.

That was the last of his musing before his mind returned to slumber.

…

Curtis stretched and yawned as he woke up, wincing a bit at the pain still there.

The birds were chirping, and light poured past the cracks of the curtains on his windows.

Daylight, at last. He’d survived the night and returned from the disaster that was that mission. Truly screwed beyond repair.

He let out a short laugh as he realized he’d really done it, until...another realization.

“The...the tome…”

He jumped out of bed, ignoring the pain in his gut as he explored the house. Nothing. No book, and Salim was gone.

“Shit...shit! Shit!”

He began to panic. All of it...it was all for nothing!

“That...she...she didn’t!”

He rifled through his desk, checked his bookshelf. Nothing.

“Damn it...DAMN IT!”

Just as he was about to burst into a tirade at how his supposed friend was a spineless traitor, there was a knock at the door.

Still in his suit, Curtis narrowed his eyes and went for the revolver on his belt. He held his hand on the grip, ready to draw as he crept over and and threw the door open.

It was her.

“A-ah! Sorry!”

Curtis blinked. “What are you…?”

“I had to go.”

“Go?”

She gestured to the left. His outhouse.

“Ah...oh! I thought...I thought you...”

“Left?”

Curtis nodded. “Yeah.”

“I was reading outside. Couldn’t see inside. Too dark.”

“Reading? You mean the tome?”

She nodded. “Crazy. Can’t understand! But maybe you can.”

“Nah. I don’t do magic.”

“Ah...well, whyever you wanted it…”

“A...contractor. Just trying to get it for him. I told you, he’s offering a small fortune for it.”

“Well, in that case…” she held the tome out to him. “...this is for my friend, Wolfgang!”

Curtis laughed and took his hand off the pistol. “Ah, hell...thanks, Salim. I was really worried there, for a minute.”

Taking the book into his hands, his eyes glimmered as he looked the thing over. Not for any reason of its own, but for what it meant.

Riches. Safety. A bright future.

Salim frowned. “Wolfgang?” “Uh, yeah?”

“What do I do now?”

He looked up from the book. “Huh?”

“I...I can’t go back...where do I go?”

He thought it over for a moment. He was about to mention the Vestiga Mining Co. as a start, but...really? Coal mining? What a miserable job. She deserved better than that.

“I’m about to become filthy rich, Salim, and it’s cause of you, so...how about you stick with me?”

“What are you saying?”

The man grinned. “I’m saying I’ve got hundreds and hundreds of gold pieces to throw around...so I’m gonna get myself a nicer, bigger house...what if I get one with a guest bedroom? You can stay with me til you figure out what you wanna do?”

Salim looked shocked. “You...you’d really do that…?”

“Of course...that’s what friends do, isn’t it?”

After the brief moment of shock, Salim’s face curled into a warm smile. “It...it is!”

The man laughed, tucking the tome away in a bag. They would move out soon, and once they did, his new life, THEIR new lives could begin. He started to lie down, however, at Salim’s insistence. They could go when he was all better, she argued. He shook his head and swapped his suit for his sleeping gown, settling in under the covers.

The thief shot Salim a smug grin, despite his injuries.

“By the way...name’s actually Curtis.”

“Eh? But I thought-”

“Fake name. Didn’t trust you. Now I do, though.”

The lizard began to grin.

“Okay, Curtis...I’ll be here, if you need anything.”

He laughed. “I’d certainly hope so.”

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